By Mark Allen, Irish Blue And Gold
The Irish defense has been much maligned for the last few seasons. True, it has shown signs of improvement this season. But, is that improvement happening fast enough? One way to quicken improvement in the area of talent is through good recruiting. This weekend, Notre Dame will play host to several highly rated defensive recruits.
There will be about six recruits in for the game versus Stanford. Five are official visits (one offensive and four defensive). One is a return, unofficial visit. Whoever said Charlie Weis only cares about the offense?
Below is a list of the recruits visiting for the Stanford game along with a brief synopsis of how each player is rated by Rivals and Tom Lemming:
- Chris Donald, 6-3, 218, LB, Huntingdon, Tennessee. He is rated #28 on Lemming’s Top 100 list. Donald is a Rival 5-Star recruit and is rated as #1 outside linebacker recruit and the #1 recruit in Tennessee. Rivals has him rated as the #11 recruit in their Top 100. He will choose between Tennessee and Notre Dame.
- Everson Griffen, 6-4, 265, DE, Avondale, Arizona. He is #24 in Lemming’s Top 100. He is a Rivals 5-Star recruit. He is rated the #1 strongside defensive end as well as the #1 recruit in Arizona. Rivals has him as their #4 recruit in the Top 100. He runs an amazing 4.46 for a defensive end prospect. The competition appears to be USC, Arizona State and Arizona.
- Ben Martin, 6-5, 225, DE, Cincinnati, Ohio. Tom Lemming rates him as his #45 recruit in the Top 100. Rivals has him rated as a 4-Star recruit. He is ranked as the #5 strongside defensive end as well as being the #2 rated recruit in Ohio. Rivals has him as their #51 rated recruit in the Top 100. The Irish and Buckeyes are, seemingly, the two at the top for his verbal.
- Michael Williams, 5-10, 181, CB, Ventura, California. Lemming does not have him ranked. Rivals has him rated as a 4-Star recruit. He is the #9 corner and the #15 (out of 100) ranked recruit in California. Notre Dame could be the favorite for Williams. Should they land him, all of a sudden, the defensive backfield looks like a strength of the future (The Irish also have a verbal from highly regarded Gary Gray).
- Harrison Smith, 6-2, 205, S, Knoxville, Tennessee. Lemming has him rated #89 on his Top 100 list. Rivals has him as a 4-Star recruit. He is rated as the #23 athlete (he is earmarked by the Irish, however, for safety) and the #5 rated recruit in Tennessee. It will come down to Tennessee, his hometown favorite, and the Irish. He is back on an unofficial visit this weekend. That has to be a great sign for Notre Dame.
- Armando Allen, 5-9, 187, RB, Hialeah, Florida. Lemming has him as #40 on his list. He is a 4-Star recruit according to Rivals. Allen is rated as 38 on Rivals’ Top 100 list. He is their top rated all-purpose back and is #6 (out of 100) in Florida. He runs a 4.31 forty. Competition will come from all of the Florida schools, Duke and USC, among others.
There will be plenty of offense coming from the Irish, on the field versus Stanford on Saturday. But, please do not get offended when you see several defensive recruits in attendance. Should the Irish pull in a couple of the hosted recruits from this Saturday, it would be the coup of the year and the ramifications will be felt for years.
2 Comments
October 11, 2006 at 12:22 pm
Excellant article, Mark.
October 14, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Do you have info on Talley?